Dick Johnson is Dead is another wonderful documentary from filmmaker Kirsten Johnson, a pensive and deeply personal exploration of mortality which manages to never divulge into forced sentimentality when it comes to its exploration of life and death. Through formal schematics in which tender meta-style documentary is infused with grandiose fantasy type sequences which elicit the psyche of both the documentarian and her subject - her father, Dick Johnson Is Dead strikes a great balance between moments of levity and capturing the gravity of the situation, in which this filmmaker's father slowly succumbs to alzheimers. It's rare that a film deals with such difficult issues as mortality with a general sense of clarity, and over the course of the film's running time it illustrates the symbiotic relationship which exists between life and death, love and loss, in a sense quantifying the act of living as something of finite value and something to respect and not take for granted. It's part of our nature to manifest a false sense of control, yet our ability to let go of such existential concerns and simply live feels like the film's underlying theme. Living in the moment and treasuring the time we have is one of the surest ways to live a good, meaningful life, one in which the inevitability of death does not consume our present. Wonderfully creative, personal and by-turn universal, Dick Johnson is Dead is a heartfelt and honest exploration of mortality that shouldn't be missed
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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